


Get yourself a partner, partner

by The_Elister



Category: The Riyria Revelations - Michael J. Sullivan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arcadius doesn't exist, Alternate Universe - Are we both robbing the same house oh fuck, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Arcadius Who?, GIVE LOVE NO CHANCE - Freeform, Gen, Hadrian Blackwater being Hadrian Blackwater, I hate prepositions, Morally Grey Hadrian Blackwater, One Shot, Out of Character, POV Royce Melborn, POV Third Person, Please let the formatting work, Pre The Crown Tower, Royce Melborn being Royce Melborn, Swearing, Thief Hadrian Blackwater, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, YOU WILL HAVE TO RIP THEIR BROMANCE FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS, does that count as, my computer is broken please help me, no beta we die like men, ok I just did a virus scan and i had like 30 trojans, or - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:28:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21848908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Elister/pseuds/The_Elister
Summary: Arcadius doesn't exist, so Fate has to take matters into her own hands.It could be so easy, but then the tall one decides to go crazy and try his hands at stealing. Honestly. How is she supposed to work woth that?Mh, suprise Meeting then.
Relationships: Give Love No Chance, Hadrian Blackwater & Royce Melborn
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	Get yourself a partner, partner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [its_elvish_for_two](https://archiveofourown.org/users/its_elvish_for_two/gifts).
  * Translation into Français available: [T'as besoin d'un partenaire?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22665700) by [The_Elister](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Elister/pseuds/The_Elister)



> My friend helped with the wording a bit but all mistakes are my onw!  
> This work is gifted to its_elvish_for_two because their work The Box motivated me to write this!!!

A dark shadow was moving through the hallway of Lady Dilitirio’s city mansion.

Slowly it crept further, towards the last door, where the Lady had all her necklaces, earrings, bracelets and other jewelry safely – or not so safely, regarding the shadow’s aptitude at picking locks – looked away in a heavy chest.

A dark hood engulfed the face of the intruder in darkness, drawn so far into his face only the eyes were visible until a black cloth took its place to conceal the lower half of the thief's face.

The shadow called himself Royce, though that knowledge was just as obscured as his appearance.  
He moved further, searching for creaking floorboards with every careful step.

Everything was quiet.

There was no sign anybody had noticed him entering through the servants’ entrance, had noticed him sneaking through the hallway on the second floor.

The Lady had left the house for the night to go to the opera and had taken her two only guards with her. The servants had either taken the evening off or were sleeping, just two were “busy” in another part of the house.

Sadly, Dilitirio, the stupid hen, had decided to wear her richest set of jewelry to the opera this evening, so maybe Royce would have to rob another person this year.

Anyway, he did not plan this coup for two weeks only to throw away his efforts because the gains were not what he had had in mind at the beginning. There was still way enough to steal in this house.

The moonlight streaming in from the window at the end of the hallway shone on black leather boots turning towards a door.

He had reached the dressing room.

Royce slowly tested the door handle.

Open. Just as predicted.

He silently pushed his way through the opening, carefully shut the door behind himself and turned to the left, where he saw a wooden chest standing on the floor.

Royce quickly made his way over and sunk onto one knee, his tools ready, when he heard it.

The quiet clattering of chainmail.

Was there a guard he had overseen? Did Dilitirio hire an extra guard to look after her mansion this evening?  
The clattering of a sword. Two swords. Three? Who by Mar would carry three swords?

Was the guard coming from the lower floor? But why didn’t he hear that earlier? Why did he still not hear any footsteps right now?

A scraping sound. A window flying open. The one in the hallway, if he located it right.

No guard would enter through the window on the second floor.

Another thief then, assassin perhaps.

But who on this planet would try to secretly break into a building with chainmail and swords?

Heavy feet landing on the floor.

As quiet as the shadow he aimed to be, Royce quickly rose and positioned himself behind the door.

Footsteps nearing.

Royce was still waiting, holding his breath, ready to strike.

The door slowly opened, revealing a tall, blond man stepping through.

Royce attacked before the other had time to notice his presence. A fist to the jaw, a kick to the knee and Blondie was on the floor with a thud. He was on him the next moment and pressed the dagger to his throat. Problem: Blondie had had the time to draw his dagger, too, and pressed it to Royces’ throat in turn.

Fuck.

He didn’t let that sentiment show on his face though, and got straight to business.

“What are you doing here?”

“I uh… wanted to steal Lady Dilitirio’s jewelry.”

Royce said nothing, just stared intensively at the other one. Waited, used the short silence to listened closely if anybody had noticed the noise. “Wait, no, wait are you saying we are both robbing the same house?”

“Apparently.”

“Alright, so, what are we gonna do now? Split it in half?”

“I will kill you and keep it for myself.” Royce didn’t even know why he hadn’t done that the moment the other one stepped through the door.

“You are forgetting I have a knife at your throat, as well”

“You’ll be dead, before you can think about killing me.”

“I’d ask you not to do it then, out of the goodness of your heart.” As if Blondie actually believed in that.

“I don’t think so.”

Royce stared at the other one and the other one stared at him. For whatever reason, he just could not bring himself to end it. Blondie apparently had the same problem, as he had made no move so far to even try to kill him. Weird.

“So, are you gonna do it anytime soon, or…?”

Royce still hadn’t made a decision, so he might as well get some information out of the other one.

“Are you with the Black Diamond or the Red Hand?”

“Who?”

“You honestly want to tell me; you are not with any guild?”

“What guild?”

Royce heaved a sigh. “I don’t know and I don’t care where you are from, but here you are in guilds’ territory. The moment they catch you stealing something that belongs to them, they are going to kill you.”

“Is there any territory that doesn’t belong to a guild?”

“Such a big head and still so utterly stupid. Of course, there isn’t.”

Royce could feel the knife at his throat lowering a bit. Apparently the other one was growing tired.

“What guild are you with?”

“None.”

“Yeah, so they are gonna kill you, too”

“No, they won’t”

“Why not?”

“I left, but beforehand I killed so many of them that the rest agreed to leave me alone.”

“That’s what they want you to believe. That’s how I’d do it to, and then I’d kill you when you least expect it.”

Royce didn’t deign that with a response. After the Year of Fear nobody would dare to look into his direction, but the Blondie didn’t need to know that.

“How about we team up?” He should kill him before the stupidity could rub off.

“Why? What would I need you for? I’ve been fine on my own so far.”

“Yeah, but you could be even better with me. I know my way around swords- “

Royce huffed. “Obviously not, if you decided to bring all three of them and expected to go unnoticed.”

“Alright, that wasn’t my smartest move- “

“Do you even know what smart means?”

“Hey!”

“Alright, you might have some skill, or you are the most stupid man to ever exist, carrying that much metal around for nothing” Royce had to admit that Blondie’s build also spoke for him being skilled. You didn’t get that kind of muscles from picking daisies.

“See, I could watch your back. And if you wanna be the sneaky one, I’ll let you do all the difficult lock picking alone, while I wait outside and… distract the guards.”

“There is no need to distract the guards when you kill them first.”

“Yes, but no. You know, there’s no need to kill them when you can go in and out without them noticing.”

“I can do that without you.”

“Then I’ll… uh… hold the reigns of your horse, while you are doing the job.” He wanted to kill him so bad, but he couldn’t. For whatever reason – stupidity most likely – Blondie hadn’t made a move yet, but neither had he. Why? This talk was useless, he was off much better on his own and it stopped him from getting towards what he actually wanted. The jewels, he couldn’t believe he’d almost forgotten the jewels.

“And I can cook! You’ll see, once you’ve tried some of my potato stew, you’ll never want to get rid of me!”  
He could cook himself, but… it would be nice to have somebody else do it for a change.

However, he’d have to share his earnings with him.  
Still, to have somebody watch his back… like Cutter had… until he’d betrayed him, the bastard. Royce would kill him, slowly, he’d skin him and break every single bone in his body and then he’d burn him alive, he’d tear him apart limb by limb if he ever found him.

He clenched his teeth. The same things he’d do to the idiot under him once he lost his worth.

“Alright, we can team up.”

He could hear the breath his new partner released.

“We’ll split our profits 60/40 for me, and you’ll do what I say, understood?”

“Sure.”

“And now, we’ll both lower our daggers on the count of three.” Why was he doing this? Stupid, stupid Royce! Setting up his own death now, huh? Couldn’t wait until it found him?

“One… Two… Three!”

.  
.  
.

The idiot had really done it.

The stupid blond idiot had really lowered his dagger to his side.

How could he be so stupid? How, by all the Gods, could he put his trust into a stranger that had threatened to kill him, that had a knife at his throat, that had no reason to let him live.

“You know, you were supposed to lower your knife, as well.”

Royce stood up and turned away.

“Let’s steal the stuff and take a leave.” That had sounded a lot more commanding in his head.

“Alright, so, do you know how to pick locks? Because I don’t.” Great Partner he’d gotten himself there, entirely useless.

A quiet clicking sound could be heard and the chest was open. Dilitirio had stored the jewelry in a smaller chest, that laid on top of some dresses. He stuffed it into the bag he’d brought with him and mentioned his partner to follow him.

Together they crept down the stairs and left through the servants’ entrance.

After a few minutes of walking and making sure nobody was following them (you can never know, there is always somebody who might have noticed) Blondie stopped and offered Royce his hand.

“I’m Hadrian by the way. And you?”


End file.
